Countries

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

Lilau Square, Macau

I don't have too many postcards from Macau so I was really happy to receive this one in a swap last year. ...and it's a Unesco card as well!

Macao, a lucrative port of strategic importance in the development of international trade, was under Portuguese administration from the mid-16th century until 1999, when it came under Chinese sovereignty. With its historic street, residential, religious and public Portuguese and Chinese buildings, the historic centre of Macao provides a unique testimony to the meeting of aesthetic, cultural, architectural and technological influences from East and West. The site also contains a fortress and a lighthouse, the oldest in China. It bears witness to one of the earliest and longest-lasting encounters between China and the West, based on the vibrancy of international trade. [source]

Macau is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China. (Hong Kong is the other.) Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta across from Hong-Kong which is to the east, bordering Guangdong province to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east and south.

The territory's economy is heavily dependent on gambling and tourism, but also includes manufacturing.